Nerding Out: Are More People Watching World Cup DH Racing in 2023?

Aug 21, 2023 at 9:56
by Ed Spratt  
photo

The 2023 World Cup Downhill season has seen some big changes as the new broadcasters and race organisers under the umbrella of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) have shaken up both the race formats and the coverage. With three races completed and with the second half of the season upon us, we have rounded up the publicly available viewing numbers and spent far too long making spreadsheets and graphs to see if the changes have made an impact on who is watching the top-level of downhill racing this season.


What Viewing Figures Did We Use?

Just as in previous years with Red Bull, the viewing figures on platforms outside of YouTube are not made publicly available so it is important to note that the finals broadcasts placed behind the paywall in 2023 are not being compared with the finals shown for free on Red Bull TV in the past. We do however have a pretty good picture based on the freely available coverage posted on YouTube, including Junior final and Elite Semi-Finals broadcasts.

For our 2023 coverage numbers, we have taken a closer look at the publicly available content being posted under the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, GMBN Racing, UCI and Eurosport YouTube channels. In our later comparisons, we have used the Red Bull Bike channel alongside the UCI as the official publishers of content in previous seasons.

*All figures were collected on August 19*


A Quick Look at the 2023 Viewing Figures So Far

Before we get into any comparisons of past seasons it is important to lay out the landscape of the publicly available viewing numbers for the opening three rounds of the 2023 downhill race season. For these rounds, we saw the largest pull of views from the UCI Mountain Bike World Series, GMBN Racing, UCI and Eurosport channels at Lenzerheide, the season opener. The total at round one reached 699,107 views. Despite not quite reaching this number again the following two rounds were pretty consistent, with Leogang content totalling 697,739 and Val Di Sole stacking up 698,813 views.

The bulk of the views across the three rounds came from the Elite Men's highlights as this pulled in nearly 200,000 more views than the next closest type of video with a total viewership across the four official channels of 770,814. The Elite semi-finals broadcast would be the second highest ranked content with the Junior finals another 270,000 back in third. The Elite women's highlights would fall far below the men's at only 194,899 views.

One interesting point to note is the subscriber numbers of the official content providers. Both the Eurosport and UCI channels sit at over 500,000 subs but they pull in a minority share of the views with the Eurosport channel struggling to pull in more than 3,000 views for each video. The World Series and GMBN Racing channels have around 100,000 and 47,000 subs respectively but they pull in a far greater audience with both channels finding similar total viewing numbers across the three rounds. Although the GMBN Racing channel posted slightly fewer videos than the World Series YouTube channel resulting in a higher average view count.







Stats Breakdown:










Talking Points:

Viewing Figure Totals are Up in 2023

It's fair to say that coming into this year there was a decent amount of doom and gloom in comment sections and forums with a decent number of people saying they would not be watching any racing this year. While the changes in 2023 may have stopped some people from tuning in, the view totals from YouTube tell a slightly different story - so far this year the total number of views across all official channels is higher than the output from Red Bull. Looking in at race highlight views the 2022 Red Bull coverage pulled in 751,429 viewers while the 2023 coverage of the same races reached an audience of 889,275.

While the overall totals are definitely higher in 2023 I would say it is nothing to be super excited about, as the Red Bull channel alone was pulling in 718,468 of those viewers in 2022 while the biggest part of the 2023 total is 588,171 from GMBN Racing. The 2023 coverage seems to have gone for a plan that sees mostly the same content uploaded across four different sources (UCI MTB World Series, GMBN Racing, Eurosport and UCI Youtube channels) instead of the two channels (Red Bull Bike and UCI YouTube channels) in past seasons. A system that seems to be working as the videos are reaching a higher number of eyeballs than the approach by Red Bull.

Without the viewing pull of the newly launched GMBN Racing channel then the number for the 2023 coverage would be pretty dire with the number for Winning Runs and Course Preview videos seeing a particularly harsh time this season as these are only posted on the World Series channel (in terms of official content providers). The winning run and course previews have seen video view numbers of around 200,000 in 2022 for Winning Runs fall to sub-80,000 views in 2023. Since 2017 only three times did views for a winning run at Lenzerheide, Val Di Sole or Leogang fall below 100,000 views and the lowest of these was still around 97,000. The GoPro Bike channel has also featured some winning run POVs although the only video to pull in a larger audience than the World Series channel was Jackson Goldstone's run from Val Di Sole reaching around 139,000 views at the time of writing. To compare this to 2022 the lowest winning run video from Red Bull for these races was 181,046.


The Broad Reach of Eurosport Doesn't Seem to be Interested in Downhill

One of the PR selling points of the new setup was the broad appeal of WBD and its Eurosport broadcasting arm, and while because the figures are kept secret we can't talk about the Dicovery+ or GCN+ numbers, the YouTube views from Eurosport are pretty appalling.

Totalling over 530,000 subs the Eurosport channel has a massive reach but nobody who is subscribed to the channel seems to want to watch downhill racing with the peak video view number reaching only 3,340. Perhaps what is worst about Eurosprt's YouTube coverage is they have only decided to publish one video showcasing women's highlights from the Leogang round of this year's World Cups (this video totalled 750 views). The elite men saw highlights posted to this channel for Leogang and Val Di Sole and the Juniors were given no coverage on this channel.


It's Great to Have Televised Junior Racing but the Audience is Falling Already

The one change for the 2023 season that has been met with almost complete positivity has been the addition of more junior coverage and a live broadcast for finals. Increased Junior racing coverage is something that is long overdue but interestingly it currently sits way below the elite semi-final in terms of viewership on YouTube. The elite semi-finals have pulled in 574,432 viewers so far this year with a big drop to 304,076 views for junior racing. The numbers get even worse when you look at highlights with the peak total for junior racing for a single round hitting 12,003 views for Leogang. The peaks for elite men sit at 281,207 and the women at 79,875. At least from the figures so far this year not many people seem interested in catching the highlights for junior racing with a number far smaller than the viewership for the live finals broadcast.

It is worth pointing out here as well that so far after three races with the new broadcaster the only highlights coverage that has pulled more viewers at round three compared to round one is the elite men, both the women's and junior coverage have lower figures for the third 2023 race.


How have you been following the 2023 World Cups?



Have you changed your World Cup viewing habits in 2023?



Are you watching more World Cup content in 2023?





Author Info:
edspratt avatar

Member since Mar 16, 2017
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344 Comments
  • 453 8
 Too bad, was one of my favorite sports, now barely watch.
  • 234 7
 fuck the UCI, either red bull or someone else needs to start their own racing league.
  • 301 2
 For the past 5ish years, I've watched every race either live or the full replay on Redbull (for free).
This year I have watched maybe 3 of the go-pro winning runs? I am bummed about losing touch with the sport but I guess it could be chalked up to my own fault? I am subscription-averse, and the product just doesn't seem worth the cost.
  • 27 0
 @housem8d: something something blackjack and hookers
  • 55 0
 Yeah I feel the same. I wasn't optimistic, but a week before the first race, I decided to stop being stubborn, and signed up for a GCN+ subscription.... only to get f*cked around with errors preventing me from signing up. Support was not helpful, and it didn't get resolved in time for the opening weekend. I gave up. Not sure I'll be back.
  • 103 81
 Alright I'm gonna be the a*shole to say it and probably get downvoted quickly but: If it actually was your favorite sport to watch, you would be watching.
I'm not fond of the new broadcasting regime either but I'd still rather watch with the sound off than not at all. Sport commentators have always been shit where I'm from I've watched events muted all my life. Also I would rather have the broadcast with bad commentary than not at all. Maybe I don't have enough principle to stick it to the man ... but at least I'm still watching DH on saturday
  • 97 4
 @asapyohanes: it can be your favourite sport to watch, but if the live coverage is at 4am (which can't be helped given that it's a world series, not British Columbia series) and the coverage is crap and you have to pay for it (which can be helped....) it's not hard to give up on it.
  • 88 4
 Check check on that. I've watched DH wildly since you could. Just can't follow this year - tried GCN but it has been a joke - been hard to watch and after getting punked on the World Champs (yeah, I know the rights to that are sold yearly - thought they'd still show it on GCN this year) and now - six whole weeks of no formal races (?) I'm done. f*ck the UCI and Discovery.

Thanks for taking amazing wine and turning it into wine coolers UCI - I'm not gonna pay you for this junk, you make no sense, you scheduled the season to destroy privateteers & Crankworks and there's not one DH lover I know who's following it this year.

Never hoped anything failed in biking as much as I hope UCI impodes and Redbull develops a series to smash it.

This is not about DH racing - UCI & Discover only wanna make money. They want this to be Shark Week on bikes - go and rot.
  • 35 0
 @asapyohanes: Fully agree with you, however personally don't want to work hard for sports to watch, I consume them when I am not running after my kids, working, riding in the mountains etc. (All things I will work hard for) I want to be spoon fed a replay World Cup DH when I have a few mins, and I can pause/fast forward at will. Was I spoiled with the previous setup? YUP! and I loved it. The poor reviews of the new broadcasts are not giving me any extra motivation either. I probably would have tracked down Mr. Warner and crew.
  • 30 6
 @Jvhowube: Its been a joke - watching Jackson has been great, the kid's unreal but even UCI can't make that look good. You're missing nothing. The Whistler DH @ Crankworks alone was better than all the UCI races in 2023 combined
  • 63 0
 This is the first year in recent memory I haven't watched an event.
  • 35 1
 @asapyohanes: Yea... not quite man. Motorbike racing and WRC were my favorite, since I was a little boy. Motorcycles are my absolute favorite thing in the world if I had to pick one, closely followed by mtb. When they were both on Speedvision I never missed a race, ever. I wrote a book report about Richard Burns and Colin McRae when I was like 12 years old. Then as Speedvision went away, I caught WRC less and less. BeIn was still doing a great job for motorbikes... MotoGP, WSBK, MotoAmerica. Then those got split up to 3 different broadcasters, the coverage got cut way down, shown at random ass odd times way after the races had happened. I realized I didn't even use cable for anything else besides background noise, cancelled that after more than half my life. Now I catch Ilse of Man coverage and then check results and highlights and that's about it... for GP, MA, WSBK, BSB... all of it. I haven't seen a WRC race in probably 12 years now. Its the same with WC DH. I love it, its some of the best most exciting racing to watch. Like those others though, you make it too difficult or annoying to watch, it gets pushed to the side like anything else. Doesn't mean a thing as far as what my favorite things are or not. I didn't miss a single DH round for probably 10 years, maybe 12? I've been to Rampage 3 times. Still. You're looking at it wrong man. They need my eyes to make themselves ad revenue. I don't need their product to enjoy my favorite things.
  • 11 2
 @asapyohanes: you're confusing an "addict" with a "fan".
  • 2 1
 @asapyohanes: it’s not my favorite sport to watch
  • 29 2
 Watched every full replay (and the odd live) since the freecaster days. This season haven't been the slightest bit interested in the semi finals, and only watched highlights of the main race, but that is crap. Probably would have paid for Redbull, but I'm not paying for Discovery.
Only one man can save televised DH.
  • 16 2
 @LemonadeMoney: A man called Rob
  • 10 0
 @Sweatypants: You can watch WRC highlights on Redbull TV for free. All 3 days.
  • 2 0
 @MustRideAllTheTrails: damn bro, thanks. I will give it a go.
  • 10 0
 @housem8d: RED BULL
HARD LINE
WORLD SERIES
PLEZ......
  • 6 0
 @wake-n-rake: why 4am? There are replays available for all races.
  • 3 1
 @asapyohanes: you're wrong.
  • 13 0
 I feel the same way. The new format is worse.
  • 19 2
 Same. I’d watched every single mens and women's WC and Champs DH race since 2015.
Haven’t watched a single one this year…
  • 5 2
 Stat watching local/national races instead.

When you arrive, donate the price discovery charge to watch each race to the race series or a team or privateer.
  • 3 15
flag FuzzyL (Aug 22, 2023 at 0:46) (Below Threshold)
 I watch mor than ever, the live coverage has gotten much better.
  • 6 0
 same ! became such a pain in the ass Dead Horse
  • 29 0
 Bernard Kerr made a great point on a podcast recently: the semi finals/ finals format is just too long for fans. If you're spectating live it's ~6 hours, which is way longer than pretty much any other televised sport. Part of the allure of downhill is that it's one run to determine the winner so most people aren't paying attention to semi finals, but then you end up confused about the start order, why some people are missing, etc.

Personally, I went from watching the finals live or the full replay later in the day to either just checking the results or watching only the top few finals runs. Even that isn't super exciting, the semi final run is such an accurate predictor of finals performance that it takes a lot of the suspense out of racing. Oh, someone won semi finals by 3 seconds? Guess what, they're going to win finals unless they crash.
  • 3 0
 @TranceAllez: As a matter of fact, forget bicycle racing altogether
  • 15 0
 @Portland-maine: to piggyback on this... at least watching Wyn, Bernard, Troy, Jack, etc... on youtube gives them click/like/subscriber revenues directly to their pocket, however minuscule that individual contribution is. And, its definitely more exciting in a smaller chunk of time that can be digested at your leisure. I find a lot of these dudes quite personable and enjoyable to watch, their commentary is fun/valuable, you get to see good riding. At 41 years old, I don't have the time, nor desire, to spend half of my daylight hours on a weekend sitting on a couch unless the weather is miserable haha.
  • 5 7
 Don’t people need to pay to watch basketball, football, etc?

Not saying I like it, but if it’s your favorite sport to watch, is $10 a month for a few months really that big of a deal?

Definitely miss redbull and Rob, but it’s still an all time field of racers and it’s been insane to watch, even on GCN+
  • 7 0
 @sb666: technically. but you also get literally like 30 different games a weekend for 2/3rds of the year if that's your jam. not 6-8 events spaced months apart that doesn't start until half way thru the riding season and ignores the other hemisphere of the globe. also, a lot of that "typical sports" money comes from cable subscriptions not at your discretion. as in, if you buy cable in the US, MOST of your monthly bill goes towards ESPN and the like, regardless of whether you even watch football/basketball/baseball/hockey. then you can get MORE in packages for more money. the content to dollar spend ratio for traditional sports is so far vastly outweighing mtb'ing that's not even a relevant discussion. if the World Cup starts having 25-30 rounds a year with like 2-3 months off, then maybe you have a conversation. but also f*ck subscriptions. so there's that.
  • 3 1
 @Sweatypants: ya fair. Again, not saying I like it, but I like watching the races more than losing the $10 a month.
  • 3 3
 Why is everybody blaming the UCI when ONLY Chris Bal is to blame?? He is a liar, a manipulater, and the primary person who made this happen, and got paid way too much however much it was. Look at The lies he starts with right from the beginning. The entire interview is mostly lies and stupid answers, this guy needs to be outted as the man who killed World Cup DH.
m.pinkbike.com/news/ask-me-anything-with-chris-ball.html
  • 2 0
 @DoubleCrownAddict: UCI gets money from it too, both UCI and Chris made it out of pure greed. But frankly, what is sport other than just entertainment business? Had they succeeded, some extra money could have gone to the riders too, so they were not that against it either.
  • 1 0
 @Sweatypants: We are living parallel motorsports viewing lives. Speedvision was such a incredible channel.
  • 1 0
 @DoubleCrownAddict: meant to upvote, arrows too close
  • 1 0
 @stickysidedown: it really was. I can still hear that British dude's announcing voice in my head saying all the names of the late 90's/early 00's haha, I forget his name. *Edit* Nick Harris haha. I miss him and associate his voice like I do Warner's for this stuff.
  • 5 6
 @Jvhowube: it’s as good as Redbull just with worse commentary, seems strange to completely detach from a sport that is the same just on a different platform, you must of been a casual
  • 7 0
 @jimmythehat: you missed the point dude. It's a shittier product that costs $50 now. No one likes that.
  • 1 0
 @Sweatypants: This! I could have accurately written the exact same comment about myself. Amen brother
  • 4 0
 @asapyohanes: Sorry, that's not right. It is my fav sport - but I've stopped watching because of the combined aspects of the commentating now being awful and the having to pay. If Warner were still commentating, I'd have paid, if he wasn't but it was free, I'd watch. That simple. I got most of the enjoyment out of the way he conveyed and accentuated the excitement, without him it's much flatter (I know because I caught the Champs and also saw some of one WC at a mate's who does pay). The magic has gone for me.
  • 2 0
 @OrangeGoblin: Honestly not bein condecending here: That sucks ! I'm sorry for everyone who has their joy of watching DH ruined like that and I mean that.
For me it was always more the riders that make or break the show and I think the level is higher than it has ever been in every category. I wish it were different but I still think the sport is bigger than warner and bigger than chris ball and bigger than discovery. I'll always be excited when a race weekend comes along and stale commentary won't change that for me and I wish it wouldn't for more people. I think it's backwards to have something so near and dear to my heart ruined by some shitty corporation because there is really no alternative right now besides going to every race.
  • 1 0
 @jtnotsure: Not sure I did, I think it’s better than Redbull, just need to sort the commentary but I’m not going to let that spoil my enjoyment of the racing or detach from the sport all together as some are suggesting, to me that’s unthinkable unless you really weren’t that bothered in the first place, call me a die hard fan of dh
  • 229 2
 Quoted from article: "...it is important to note that the finals broadcasts placed behind the paywall in 2023 are not being compared with the finals shown for free on Red Bull TV in the past." LOL, I wonder why....I read the rest, and understand those stats aren't made public, but what else actually really matters? The live race is the whole point.
  • 17 0
 spot on
  • 31 36
flag edspratt Editor (Aug 21, 2023 at 13:40) (Below Threshold)
 Ideally having those figures to compare would have been the best metric but there is no indication the 2023 figures will ever be released and the past viewing figures were always kept very secret.

I think the YouTube viewing numbers are still very important because if anything they are more likely to include casual viewers who aren't going to be watching live on Red Bull TV or GCN+. This is the type of viewer that could grow the sport and that is one of the goals of the new broadcasters.
  • 11 0
 Ok it's not just me. I was looking for this comparison as well
  • 31 0
 @edspratt: I do appreciate the analysis you pulled here, but really the interesting comparison would be the viewership of the actual race broadcast. I know it's not going to happen outside of some discovery board room, but damn I would like to see how the views have tanked since this year
  • 63 0
 @edspratt: one could theorize that since the actual race is behind a paywall, viewers that would have watched the live feed now go to YouTube for the highlights. As someone who used to tune in religiously for every race when it was on redbull, I never watched highlights, but now that I don't watch the races I am more prone to view highlight videos and alternate media to see what went down.
  • 6 0
 @edspratt: I wish I shared your optimism. I think the numbers for the course previews and winning runs over the last few years are telling.
  • 11 0
 @Edspratt decent article but without the paid viewer numbers to compare to previous redbull this article falls short. The YouTube number are telling of viewers who are looking to keep up with the sport as a sway around the pay wall.
It would be nice if gmbn and discovery+ and the others involved allowed you to include their numbers for this. Would be interesting to know percentage of subscribers who are watching each race and if/how much of they content they consume.
I pay for the GCN subscription but only watch finals. It isn’t the same this year for me, a bit bland a blah to be honest. Fort William track coverage for worlds wasn’t great, did get to see entire field as a bonus.
  • 15 0
 @edspratt: In all due respect I'm not seeing at all how 'casual' viewers who wouldn't watch Redbull or GCN (who doesn't know of redbull - and even as a 30+ yr rider, I only just heard of GCN this year) even begin to think about falling in love with DH? I'm not sure they'd even know where to begin, especially with new commentators who have the personalty of Lots of Fog.

This type of viewer is obviously not a core rider (but hey, dive on it - that's great) - but how is a 1-min & 40 second "highlights' reel of the entire World Champs race gonna get casual (or core) viewers amped up to drop $10 /month on GCN+? Even the EDR highlights were like 20 mins each...and that has way less of a fan base - casual observers aren't even gonna begin to know how to watch EDR.


Your analysis is good - the stats are stats. Shouldn't numbers have jumped massivlely this year though? They've hardly bumped & w/ the youtube and other stats, missing info - it doesn't really look like a dunk by any means. I'd be impressed if we could say viewership jumped by 15, 20, 25% but... nah. Its barely anything and there are huge data gaps.

This is not data backed but the fact that so many core riders are saying they're not watching (here, everywhere online) seems to say a lot too. Literally none of my downhill buds are even watching - they're so pissed with the format they just aren't bothering. I tried to - and I'm probably diving into hyperbole, but I just cannot see whatsoever how at least for season one DH is not being broadcat to the entire planet for all to see, get amped & hooked on - then paywalling it. Starting with a paywall?

Just don't see what there is to draw in a lot of noobs, or even longtimers. I never thought I'd say this - but damn, Crankworks is waaaaaaaaaaaay more fun to watch in comparison AND they have Rob Warner! . Maybe compare viewing stats w/ that vs. UCI DH and see what's up. I'm honestly curious.
  • 13 0
 The point is to give a load of graphs an figures to convince an prove to board members an investors and advertising execs that more people are watching (when anyone with half a brain cell knows they ain't) ......

This is the most important question was never asked
  • 8 0
 Being that it's Pink bike that's doing the numbers, you just KNEW there was going to be something left out in the data to put an industry spin on it. I remember when they did a comparison to measure if industry prices were relatively higher than they used to be. PB omitted pertinent data to reach a desired conclusion then too.
  • 6 0
 @edspratt: new broadcasters sound like they are calling a golf tournament. Very boring.
  • 7 0
 @Ashe14: It's like watching Fog insert smooth foggy sound here>

But hey - whats also not to love about not being able to watch Worlds (yeah I know the rights sale thing - why should that have happened this year?) - but its now 55 (56?) days since the last points race. WTF is that?

HOW are noobs / "casual" viewers (Ed says UCI / Disco is looking for) and esp longtime fans suppose to f*cking follow this ??? Why a full 1.5 months between major races? Totally absurd
  • 1 0
 Came to say exactly the same thing
  • 9 0
 @edspratt: but without the finals numbers from behind the paywall, thus not having a direct product to product comparison, isnt the entire premise if this article rendered completely moot?
  • 1 1
 @captaindingus: I would guess they are getting at least 4x less than last year's Red Bull numbers for the paywall broadcast.

Even though he didn't include the most important statistic, this is still a decent article because the survey results makes it clear hardly anybody is watching live compared to last year.
  • 3 0
 @edspratt: The only YouTube content I consume for WCDH is Wyn TV, otherwise, I watch Moi Moi and Sam Pilgrim.
In the last five or so years, I probably only missed two or three broadcasts/rebroadcasts of RedBull's World Cup coverage.
I have no desire to pay to watch WCDH, and I've heard nothing but terrible things about the coverage and the new announcing team. If RedBull got WCDH rights again, with Rob announcing, I'd be back in a flash.
  • 2 0
 @awl506: Falls short? I’d say it’s all irrelevant speculative coloured lines
  • 5 2
 @BikesBoatsNJeeps: The reality is the new coverage is slightly better than Redbull but because the commentary is rubbish people’s feel like it’s worse
  • 1 1
 @Mtn-Goat-13: With, not "In."
  • 4 0
 @edspratt: I'd argue some of the views are previously the people who spent a whole afternoon watching a live race are now reduced to a 6minute highlight video.
  • 167 6
 Honestly the problem isn't the paywall, it's just the awful commentary, the terrible way the transition was handled, and the weird gimmicky stuff they are forcing in to the broadcast like heart rates etc. It just feels like it's had the soul ripped out of it and sold to the highest bidder, and I can't be arsed with it.
  • 44 1
 Summed it up nicely. I don't mind paying for as good as or better content AND ease of viewing. UCI F'ed it up as usual
  • 41 1
 Thank you. I would actually pay for Redbull or a Redbull level of quality. The commentary and other details with the current broadcast setup are not worth my money. I can't even find full winning or podium runs on Youtube. F%^& UCI.
  • 52 1
 And also the shitty format designed to eat privateers alive, the semis (I love DH but I dont' have 8 hrs per race to watch all that) not to mention the danger it puts the riders in, commentary, setting dates to specifcially help make sure riders missed Crankworx or were too exhausted.... everythign about it is low rent.
  • 4 1
 @Mtn-Goat-13: ^^^^ Spot on
  • 12 9
 I've said this a few times - I subscribed and think the race coverage is good. Video coverage is better than redbull. Commentary is worse. Racing is still awesome. The GCN app sucks. I'll subscribe next year as well. It seems a lot of complaining is from people that haven't even seen the product.
  • 3 5
 @russthedog: I subscribed too and will next year - my thinking is in line with yours. GCN could do much better with their app. This is only the first year of the new format so there's plenty of time for improving and tweaking going forward.
The thing I'd like to know is how much of my subscription fee finds its way to the racers (or equivalent reward because of a subscription based model).
  • 1 1
 @tremeer023: Agreed, the App is a problem. Here in SA with decent fibre internet its slow and pic quality is often awful compared to Netflix and YouTube. The App itself has issues with certain media players and the remote wont allow navigation on my brand new Xaiomi box. The solution they say is to turn off bluetooth...
  • 4 0
 @tremeer023: I would say exactly none of it. They care about shareholders, not racers. Look at what they've done about helmet cam footage for runs, taking away potential revenue from racers. It's not like they're even doing anything with the footage themselves.
  • 9 0
 For the German speaking audience: Give the German commentary a try! I did and was blown away. So much more in-depth and valuable than the English one (sorry, Cedric). Markus Pekoll is one of the German-speaking commentators - he's also Andreas Kolb's trainer, so he's especially enthusiastic when his boy's on track Big Grin
  • 3 1
 @commental: yes, the only thing we know for certain is that the wealthy shareholders will take their slice first. But it should help riders indirectly at some point, if the viewing numbers grow. I hope.
  • 10 0
 @tremeer023: Depends which riders you're talking about. I think Discovery want to end up with a format where only trade teams can compete and privateers are pushed out of the picture, it's why they keep cutting away from race runs to show team managers at the finish line.
Whilst I'd like to see it happening I'm afraid I don't foresee a big rise in viewer figures. It seems that Discovery have done very little to attract new viewers while at the same time alienating lots of existing fans.
  • 4 0
 @commental: We'll said. Whats even more shocking is how little they seem to care about longtime riders opinion - or feedback to improve. If this was even done like Redbull had left it that would be one thing - they have left it in f*cking shambles. I feel bad for the pros.
  • 3 0
 @darrentheclaw: I will check that out. I don't speak German but love the Bundesliga. The idea of someone shouting German while watching DH racers bomb down a course sounds pretty epic to me Smile
  • 3 2
 For me the problem is the paywall. I have never once paid to watch sports on TV/ Internet and never will. I could afford it but this is a sport full of cheap asses who have more important things than paying to watch people ride bikes when bike riding is free.
  • 6 7
 @russthedog @tremeer023 : exactly the same here, I'm actually super pleased with my GCN subscription overall and will definitely pay again next year. I don't have any real complaints about the broadcast product aside from missing Rob. The DH format changes are meh but TBH I assume those will continue to change as they experiment with it.

Not only do I not understand what all these people are bitching about, but it's actively driven me away from Pinkbike in general. The negativity is just f*cking ridiculous. On pretty much every racing-related post, it feels like 60% of the comments are just people moaning about the broadcast product... which for all intents and purposes is virtually the same as last year with some different graphics. Just pay the few bucks to watch it or admit you're not a fan and move on. Oh well.

I do agree the app needs a little work though. I haven't had any speed/quality issues but it's kind of hard to navigate and find the event you want to watch. And the labeling/searching in the racing tab could be more intuitive. But aside from their race coverage I've actually enjoyed some of the documentaries and stuff for rides on the indoor trainer. Between road racing, mtb, documentaries, and other video content I feel like it's been a solid value.
  • 4 0
 part of the "etc" would have to be the footage of the team manager... no one cares... get back to the race.
  • 5 0
 @Derekat: Dunno man - that's some compelling stuff...what, stoic, stoci-faced stoicism without any context or commentary from them? Its the New Discovery way. You're just jaded man - JADED! This. This is what we're tuning in for -and also those rando clips of other riders talking about a flat tire over top of mid-pack riders lines. Disovery is - well, Discovering Things. Nothing good or interesting, but Discovering Things nonetheless.

I'm glad I'm going to miss the rest of it. Discovery should bleed for this and I'm refusing to support it.
  • 2 0
 @Mtn-Goat-13: In the words of Discovery "Being Jaded makes you do crazy things." Or something like that.
  • 1 0
 "He's on the edge!"
  • 2 3
 @DoubleCrownAddict: so you only have free to air tv in the US?
  • 1 0
 @jimmythehat: We have that plus a myriad of other options (satellite, various streaming services {internet needed}, what we call 'cable', etc).
  • 3 0
 Well I would have very little to complain about if it were free... Making it paid means I can complain!
  • 1 1
 @bman33: and you don’t have cable?
  • 3 0
 @jimmythehat: No. Many folks in the US are eliminating cable because you pay for way too many channels that you never want. Most of us are going towards streaming services.
  • 137 1
 Not as engaging anymore. Dont even watch vital raw anymoreFrown ill check the final results but that's it. Engagement for me has completely fallen off a cliff this season. Used to get amped up watching live world cups then go for a ride. Now, i forget they are even happening sometimes.
  • 28 2
 Exactly same here.. after years and years of not missing a race, this year i saw absolutely nothing about dh racing.. but most of all i lost every interest about it.. Long live downhill
  • 3 0
 Yep, same here
  • 3 7
flag jimmythehat (Aug 22, 2023 at 12:32) (Below Threshold)
 Vital raw is the best and free, sounds like you don’t like watching Mtb, which is your choice obviously.
  • 135 0
 It seems unsurprising that highlight videos and stuff like that on youtube are getting more views in 2023 because it's harder to watch the actual race. I never watched highlight reels in the Redbull era because I watched the actual race on Redbull TV. That's harder and more expensive to do now, so I'm more inclined to watch a quick race recap.
  • 14 0
 Precisely
  • 8 0
 ...and a quick recap it is
  • 26 0
 @hardtailpunter: Come on...we got a FULL 1 minute 40 seconds for men & women after the World Champs...that's... that's...

...so f*cking sad.
  • 9 0
 THIS 100%. It is so blatantly obvious. Make the races harder and less interesting to watch, ergo more views of highlights and race recaps.
  • 6 0
 The highlights are also extremely poor. super short with a fraction of the runs shown. Maybe thats why the views are up.
  • 75 1
 Used to watch every race, but this year I just can't be bothered to figure out where/how to watch it (maybe I'm getting old).
  • 11 1
 Yr not getting old - if UCI/Discovery wants to growt DH & biking like they say, why should it be a f*cking rubiks cube of crap to figure out? One channel - watch everything, done. Simple. Instead is like having all yr friends & family show up for your b-day but they only brought the ingredients and the recipie & left you alone to cook & bake it all up. Just lame. It should be as easy as flipping on one channel or website and watching it all. These f*cking idiots are beyond greedy - they are also stupid.
  • 10 0
 Getting old? Maybe! But in the old time there was the old school trails: thight, rocky with roots and people close to action you can hear louder . Not so fast on the past but a lot of action and technical drive for challenge. More interesting and trails very specific to every races. Now it always the same: highway, jump-gap jump-highway and so on. TV style or like in movie, very far away from action. Boring. And many out of the racers right from the beginning of the season. Then only very small women are competitive. Maybe just one since the other is out. Bring back the old trails!!!
No comment about UCI, cycling is only $$$. Power!
  • 3 0
 Got the same feeling years ago with MotoGp,now I don´t know any rider in the field and had 0 interest in motorbike races or even F1,it is very boring.
To me is very simple,if something you like is harder to get you loose interest very quick hehehe.
Redbull made an excellent job in general offering content for free,plain accessible,easy and quick. Now it being a pay wall cos they new it can make money milking fans,to me is less interesting,less accessible and a little boring.
The worst part is UCI and Discovery are making money but the the teams and riders not. That to me is insane,far for being a little greedy,they took all the pie and possible making money assets from the fans and teams to milk them.
It would be a yellowish media turd in no time,like F1 with their stupid clickbait news no one cares about. Now DH races are a top media shit,content designed for new fans,not real DH fans for long time,they would transform it in something new more appealing to the masses.
  • 10 1
 Are you watching more World Cup content in 2023?

O [Yes I'm watching more.]

O [About the same as before.]

O [No I am paying less attention to the racing.]

(Answer not listed)-
✅ [ NO because it's not free anymore to spontaneously log into on a whim and catch the top riders down + it's missing a crucial element;- Rob Warner and all the excitement and Stoke !]
  • 3 0
 @likeittacky: I feel smeared by the answer options they gave. I'm watching less, but paying the same attention if not more as I try to watch every race, live, for free...
  • 2 0
 @homerjm: Plus without Rossi it's no longer the same sport for me.
  • 2 1
 @homerjm: in my opinion that’s because you were a casual fan following riders, watching any rider do something cool it doesn’t matter who it is, I too have lost some interest in MotoGP, partially due to no star riders like before but mainly because the bikes are now too good due to all the ride height and aero devices, it has sanitised the racing, the only way to save it is to ban the ride height devices and ideally aero, this will never happen, exactly the same for WRC. I never miss a Motocross race although some tracks have far too many jumps
  • 1 0
 @missfoesquebec: Thats a very good point. The track layouts have changed, though the changes maybe (?) started more about 2-3 years ago. There were always tweaks here and there, but the types of changes are becoming more consistent across all the tracks.
  • 60 4
 In all honestly: I'm paying less attention because there is no fantasyleague. It kept me interested and involved. Now it's: Oh this guy won. Oh valli won. What's for Dinner?

UCI should pay pinkbike for the fantasyleague to keep viewers engaged and watch their product.
  • 6 0
 fantasy was the cat's ass
  • 4 0
 Absolutely this, fantasy league kept so many people engaged. Gutted by the abscence of it this year.
  • 51 0
 Poll needs the option of "I only watch Crankworx now".
  • 5 0
 So true!
  • 44 0
 Seems to me that there would be a negative correlation between You Tube views of highlights and actual race viewership. I don't watch highlights of races I watch live/replay coverage of; more people watching free recaps on You Tube probably means fewer people are actually tuning in to watch the whole race. That would mean fewer eyes on (and fewer opportunities for) privateers or young riders who don't make it into highlight vids.
  • 4 0
 @Zach22 - absolutely this.
  • 45 3
 Last 10 years I've tried to watch every race. 2023 marks year I gave up. It's not the same. Tuning into crankworx makes me feel all warm n cozy again. World cup UCI is dead to me and I was a huge freaking fan.
  • 39 0
 This is kinda a horrible article. Comparing views of highlight videos or winning runs?

When it was on red bull, we could watch the race for free, so we didn't have to watch the highlights or winning runs on YouTube. Now that you have to pay to watch the race, of course people are going to watch the YouTube videos more, because the only source we have to watch the races.

It's clear by the polls that less people are watching the live racing.
  • 6 0
 exactly this. I didn't watch any youtube recap because I could go onto redbull.tv, click the replay, and then select the runs I wanted to watch. god those were the days.
  • 34 2
 It's been horribly produced, horribly managed and horribly executed in every which way you look at it.

Again... just like ESPN+ screwing up Rampage.

Instead of looking at what has and has not worked, their egos do damage and they think they can just start from scratch and not fail.

Don't like the new format. Don't like the coverage. Don't like it being split up between outlets. Don't think any of the outlets have done a very good job with coverage or announcing. Etc.

I've stopped watching and just follow through IG and results articles. Which is a shame because I'm a massive fan. Loved the fantasy leagues. Woke up early to catch coverage, avoided social media until I could watch it if I missed it live, etc.

Now... don't care.

I wake up. I read articles. I'll watch what I can find out there. Stopped using the app. ETc.
  • 30 0
 This has got to be some of the worst data analysis I have ever seen posted in an official context. The line graph of completely unrelated youtube channels is truly one of the worst graphs I have ever had to read. With bonus random cubic interpolation that makes no sense. Every single one of the line graphs should not exist except for the subscriber count by day. And then the decision to represent a data set ranging from 18k up to 500k with a linear, instead of log, plot completely ruins the readability of the graph and makes it functionally useless.

The only useful plot in this entire article is "World Cup YouTube Highlight Views" by year, but that data is entirely unhelpful without the corresponding livestream data. Are views actually up or are people flocking to post race highlights because they aren't watching live? This whole article reads like you gave someone an excel sheet with some numbers and then paid them by the graph.
  • 4 0
 Absolutely sucks lol
  • 31 0
 Honestly, I would rather pay for RedBull TV than all these other streaming platforms. So much other great content. Blows my mind that it is free.
  • 20 1
 Yeah I second that - I think many or most people on here identify more with dirtbikes and action sports than spandex fetishists and tarmac.
  • 6 2
 100% agreed. Redbull does so much cool stuff (not just mtb), supports athletes, events, crazy ideas like a flying skatepark, a man jumping from space, crazy plane stuff, etc. Awesome company. I'd gladly pay them for the coverage they had before.
  • 26 2
 The whole business model from discovery (buy rights to broadcast and then put it behind a paywal and bet that people love the sport enough to cough up for the privilage of watching a shitter version of what we had) just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and even though I want to watch the races, I just can't find it in me to swallow the bill.

It feels like giving in to extortion
  • 22 0
 I've subscribed to gcnplus and will continue to watch the finals but I'm finished with the semis . You can have to much of a good thing , and I don't think they carry any real drama because of the protected status of the top riders . I preferred the old format.
The commentary is worse than red bull no doubt , I actually miss Elliott Jackson more than Rob which is not something I expected. I think the role of the co commentary is to tell the viewers things they wouldn't know and the subtleties of the sport and not just getting excited about someone being up at the first split . Elliott was/is great at that .
And definitely bring back fantasy .
  • 25 0
 all I know is I want fantasy mountain biking back
  • 5 0
 It's amazing how the fantasy made me so much more invested in the season. I mean I love watching the DH racing, but I honestly felt like I was watching with a bit more attention before. It also was a fun way for me and some friends to compare notes and just chit chat about the races and season in general.
  • 1 0
 Seriously, pinkbike please bring it back! Doesn't even need prizes, it was so much fun figuring out your team.
  • 2 0
 @eplanajr: it made me take notice of names I didn't know of or follow before when I'd see some random name racking up points compared to their "salary cost" in the game. Definitely made it easier to engage/follow new or upcoming riders and go seek out more about them. Since there's no actual live coverage of EWS either, it definitely made that easier for me to feel engaged into how people are performing.
  • 2 0
 I've not seen anything from PB as to why it was scrapped. Have they ever given reasons? Even if they dropped the prizes it'd still be popular. I wonder if it was at the request of Discovery/ESO for some reason?
  • 8 1
 @commental: It was nothing crazy we just weren't able to get it all set up in time for the season to kick off. Nothing is set in stone just yet so don't hold me to this but we are currently looking at ways to bring it back next year and hopefully have something better than before.
  • 9 0
 @edspratt: If only the DH season hadn't started so early this year.
  • 2 1
 @edspratt: uh, maybe Outside and PinkBike should try adding or at least keeping more staff vs letting them go. Then maybe you’d be able to get shit done.
  • 2 0
 @edspratt: Given my experience in big corporations, I’d be willing to bet $100 that Outside leadership, or lack thereof, is the real reason PB fantasy didn’t get done in time.
  • 1 0
 www.downhillmtbfantasy.com/Login
  • 1 0
 @edspratt: Thank you. I don't mind running the one we've got going with some mates, but the PB gave points further down the field, which made things a little more interesting points wise and could shake the league standings up more.
  • 19 0
 Tv coverage is worst overall and also the semifinal thing is just not appealing, the whole thing just didn’t work and hopefully they won’t try to get people used to it and instead just see this year as a big fail and think of ways to make it actually better for next year
  • 8 1
 Semi-final format is ridiculous. It's like watching a match, then watching the same teams play again immediately after the first game. The only good thing is it's free on YT. So I watch semis to get my fill of great racing, go ride and catch highlights of final later on.
  • 3 0
 @motts: exactly, all the mistiqur and tension is gone, the track is rutted as f*ck, and the race no longer even represents the thing that we all could enter ourselves at home.
  • 24 3
 My fun tokens go on my own riding, not watching others ride (no matter how impressive those other riders are).
  • 3 2
 This!
  • 11 1
 Same. If you're going to ram advertising down my throat that should be my payment. Only a sucker would pay to be advertised to.
  • 22 3
 Bring back Rob Warner or at least better commentary than what we had so far this year. Not as many people are willing to pay for it. I have discovery plus and the race is nowhere to be found there.
  • 5 1
 I did pay for GCN+ and have watched the finals, but that's it. Outside of that, I barely pay attention to what's going on in DH anymore. I'd rather pay for Red Bull and Rob, and I'm sure I'd be much more interested in the whole season.
  • 16 2
 Off redbull makes it so much harder to watch. I paid for GCN+ and was dismayed that I couldn't get the world champs and I still haven't seen that race. The overall experience is alot worse than it ever was which makes you care less about it.
  • 9 1
 To be fair, even when Redbull had it, we couldn't watch World Champs in the States on Redbull. Had to be NBC for a few years. It was awful
  • 4 0
 @bman33: free VPN is the answer there.
  • 4 0
 @DylanH93: correct. Just reminding the person above that world champs were a pain in the US even prior to the current mess
  • 2 0
 Same here. I was willing to pay but was not able to actually get anything. Also no replay of finals of any kind.
  • 7 1
 @bman33: Agreed - but with GCN forcing payment this year, it was (wrongly) assumed the Champs would be part of the line up, but they shat on us all again - and for what...the single worst World Champs broadcast in DH history, hands down (but props of course to Charlie for the win).

That nasty porn-sex fake slap laugh-trax crap they overdubbed into the motorway section was horrific. I couldn't even believe I was watching it. Ended up turning it off. I even like the GMBN dude but jesus h is he a snoozer on DH commentary - like watching fog.
  • 3 0
 how do you even watch the world champs? I gave up because I couldn't find it.
  • 2 0
 this is exactly how i feel, whoever is showing the races needs to get them ALL or we never gonna become a major sport
  • 2 1
 @brighterlights: tiz-cycling.io/video/mountain-bike-world-championships-2023-full-race-dhi
  • 19 1
 We had it so good when race coverage was free and Rob Warner commentated.
  • 5 1
 Thankfully we can still get that via Crankworx coverage.
  • 18 1
 The internet has spoken... Cathro is Pinkbike`s most valuable content !!!!
  • 6 0
 Never thought Cathro would overtake my DH watching but - he has this year. Done w/ Discover, up w/ Ben.
  • 1 0
 Cathro covers stuff way above my pay grade--racing, skills, etc. But it's simple.. if it has Cathro in it, I click. Stupid sexy Scottish bastard Big Grin
  • 15 2
 I have biked for 33 years and have watched a stream of pro's come & go - todays men & women riders are beyond world class. Why they are dancing like coin-collecting-monkeys for UCI & Discovery blows my brains - I"ll take Cranksworks anyday now. Its not perfect either - nothing ever was - but its the BMW of biking vs. the moped on fire that is UCI/Discover.

Who hasn't had gripes about Redbull - they're not gods - faults there too. It wasn't perfect - but it was and still is core. Period. Discovery are interloper wannabes and they always will be. AND f*ckING ROB is there. That alone is plenty.

UCI / Discover are offering the fakest spray-tan orange-man, silicon implants, wannabe shucky-the-clown-wearing-a-toupe gargabe in the history of World Cup.

Tried 3 GCN races and was meh about em - got nuked on the World Champs since it was sold - I give up. It shouldn't be this f*cking difficult (or painful) to watch. Cancelling the subscription & focusing on Crankworx and riding w/ buds.

Youtube views: f*cking please, that's some welfare-watching at its fines: endless ads, hardly comprehensive, cherrypicked and useless - scraps of meat. UCI can burn. I pray that Redbull will come up with an alternate DH series and take these pros away from UCI - just the Whistler DH @ Crankworks alone was one the best DH races I've ever seen - more of this please!
  • 8 0
 BINGO
  • 4 0
 PREACH
  • 3 0
 @rip8569 @ShopMechanic I do eat a lottttttttttt of hyperbole pills ya know...
  • 1 0
 @Mtn-Goat-13: Sometimes it takes some hyperbole to get the point across tho
  • 12 0
 i bought the first race at the last minute so i got several races, have not resubbed, i think a trail period deemed the fate for me, Honestly the broadcast itself as far as showing the racing is on par or better(atleast later in the final races with more course coverage) but the commentary is still terrible Those 2 guys, regardless of who they are, are so out of touch with the riders.....
One of robs biggest things was his rider knowledge
I would resub with proper commentary.
  • 4 0
 I think they will be seeing a huge drop off of us who initially subscribed for the first couple races, then canceled and won't be resubscribing for the rest of the season.
  • 16 0
 As GCN+ and Eurosport figures are not included here the results are moot.
  • 7 0
 Did I miss something or aren’t dh finals not broadcast on youtube? This graphs don’t at all speak to actual World Cup views on Eurosport or GMBN. This is more of a survey of YouTube viewing trends
  • 2 0
 @605endurbro: I believe so. Like myself, it's not uncommon to have one Eurosport subscription in the family, and I was lucky to have that and be able to watch the races without paying more.
  • 2 0
 Agreed. I have Eurosport included in my TV package and watched it there. I'm sure lots of others did too.
  • 3 1
 > "The Broad Reach of Eurosport Doesn't Seem to be Interested in Downhill
>
> One of the PR selling points of the new setup was the broad appeal of WBD and its Eurosport broadcasting arm, and while because the figures are kept secret we can't talk about the Dicovery+ or GCN+ numbers, the YouTube views from Eurosport are pretty appalling. "

Yes that conclusion about eurosport is stupid. Are you guys aware that if people subscribe to eurosport, that is to watch content that is only available on the Eurosport TV channels / website /app and nobody looks for youtube to get content from eurosport?

@edspratt come back with decent statistics and conclusion when you are not drunk please.
  • 1 0
 The Eurosport live viewing figures can't be counted for a lot of the races as they have not shown the races live on the main Eurosport channels, only the streaming service has carried it..... Most of the races have been highlights packages that come days after the race happened...
  • 15 0
 Man all these convoluted and misleading stats is really bringing me back to the corporate world. Fun, Fun, Fun.
  • 11 1
 I watched almost all Crankworks events this year live. Did not watch a single WC DH. Way to "grow" the sport Discovery. More like adding another nail in the coffin of our favorite sport. At least the UCI made more money to spend on road racing.
  • 2 0
 Grifters gonna grift!
  • 9 0
 It's really hard to ask people to start paying for something that they've been getting for free for years. Especially when the thing you're asking them to pay for is worse than the thing they were previously getting for free.
  • 11 0
 via Bernard Kerr's and Janaynay's youtube channel almost exclusively. shout out to wyn masters and troy brosnan for youtube coverage also.
  • 10 1
 Youtube views are up because the amount of people watching live has dropped off a cliff.
  • 3 1
 So weird how they didn't provide those numbers amiright
  • 5 0
 Paid subscription. What a waste of money. It was hard to figure out how to get it to stream on my tv from the horrible app on the phone. We are all hitting YouTube to get some form of racing in but the live experience on finals is dead because of the paywall that's behind a terrible UX.
  • 7 1
 Screw Discovery, the UCI, GCN and this bs article that doesn’t hold an ounce of water and is a poor cover up of the failure that is the 2023 season, minus the actual racing. Good job racers!
  • 5 0
 I typically watched a hand full of races on Redbull in years past, but since I paid for a GMBN+ membership, I watched all three races and the semi finals. The new announcers arn’t great, but the racing is good. Looking forward to the second half of racing this year, and I hope they can figure out EDR, because I would like to watch a better televised format of that.
  • 2 0
 Good luck with the EDR coverage, it's just gone from bad to worse. It blows my mind that ESO show so little interest in it considering it's their baby.
  • 4 0
 Difficulty in accessing a broadcast to watch seems to be the biggest complaint. It's like- if you missed the 1 Pinkbike article from earlier this year about how to access a broadcast, you'd have no idea how to even watch DH anymore.
I think there needs to be an article re-capping how to watch for each major country. for example I've heard people getting a discovery plus subscription thinking that's how to watch. Then it's not even on Discovery plus in the country they live in (ex. Canada)
  • 6 1
 That was me all off season. I'm generally anti-any more subscriptions or monthly bills in my life, but my wife already had Discovery+ so I sat around for like 7 months thinking I finally got a benefit from it. Then not showing it in the US, I just couldn't be bothered after that. Watching semis now is 75% good enough for me and then just checking the results the next day. They can take that away and I'll just watch Troy and Bernard's blogs alone. The UCI can get those banned or limited or whatever threatening bullshit they do and I won't care any more at all. They won't win the war of attrition. We can all just go ride our bikes or take a nap. Your move Discovery.
  • 1 0
 Is it on the Discovery app? I’m in Canada and can’t find it anywhere on the app
  • 6 0
 Is this even a fair question? UCI DH is unavailable in the US so of course there is more youtube and even then it is still unavailable.
  • 4 0
 Some gnarly skewed results going on here
  • 4 0
 My biggest complaint is not with the quality of coverage, it's the poor accessibility and lacklustre engagement. Prior to this year, I used to sit down in the evening with a brew or a beer and watch the full replay of every race. The Red Bull experience was excellent with replays being available straightaway and the website easy to navigate. Now, watching the racing on Discovery+ is a complete nightmare! Full replays are impossible to find, often not posted for a day or so after the race. Returning to the site some time later, perhaps only the junior men's semi-final has been uploaded... and nothing else. If you are patient enough to eventually find the downhill, it's usually mislabeled with the wrong thumbnail or descriptive text. It just feels like a total afterthought compared to some of the other sports Discovery cover. This year, for the first time, I've actually started missing races as it's just become so hard to access!
  • 7 2
 Complete disaster!
I don't know where to find it!
I'm not going to look for it!
& I'm not going to pay for it!
Good job UCI!
Way to commit suicide! It WAS my favorite sport to watch
  • 1 2
 Just sounds like you’re a bit useless
  • 4 0
 Why are Pinbike not reporting on the scandalous rule change introduced by the UCI taking away semis points meaning riders like Adam Brayton can’t race, this is the real story and complete madness. Where is the riders union to boycott the event until the rule is changed? If it was me I would refuse to ride until it was removed.
  • 5 0
 Watching less due to the broadcasting change, was so easy on RBTV to watch live and replay when it suited. Watching the worlds was a debacle here in NZ.
  • 5 0
 Haven't watched a single one and highlights are no use. Just complain on here about the coverage and the man and the suits and have just as much fun doing so.
  • 4 1
 Watching world cups was my favorite screen time of the year. Always built to a crescendo and always was damn enjoyable.

I decided to try and give Discovery a chance and paid for GCN+ (for a month). Coverage has been disappointing and without getting into the commentating piece I think the product is worse. I think camera selection and number is poor, the drones used poorly, new gates vs. taping ill conceived and the new format not resulting in better racing only more battered racers.

Commentating I was willing to give them some time to learn but it does not seem they're committed to hearing constructive feedback and certainly don't seem to be practicing with old replays and then airing them to test audiences.

I like Rick from the EWS (EDR will forever be a stupid name) but he has not evolved his game for DH but I do think he could. Cedric however is not talented for this role and in fact only makes Rick's job harder.

Pains me to say that I'm out for following anything more than the 5-7 minute highlight vids that are put out.
  • 3 0
 I've just watched the free content, and made up for missing gaps by watching as much of the Cathro, Wynn/Eddie stuff as possible. I've also been tuning into the Downtime and Misspent Summers Podcasts to get as wide a perspective as possible.

Based on what I've seen from the free Juniors and Semi-finals content so far, it's not even close to worth the subscription just to add in Finals to all that. The one positive thing I can say for the new format, I definitely love catching the Juniors action this season.
  • 3 0
 I paid for GMBN but still have a hard time finding and watching replays, which is how I like to watch due to time constraints. GMBN, make your app more searchable and usable and also, cover all of the races with one platform. Missing Worlds was not good.
  • 3 0
 Semi-final format is a pointless experiment. While expanding CrankWorx is maybe good for getting more riders in the public eye, the DH race is more like a national DH because only a few of the top guys show up. The 1199 race was rad, but I'd be fine if CrankWorx didn't include DH races, unless they can draw more of the top guys.
  • 3 0
 Begrudgingly, i signed up for GMBN+. I watched the first half of the season, not bad (prefer the old way), but then they lost me at the world champs. How monumentally stupid it was to place country restrictions on that. I cancelled the service on principal, and watched the world champs through a VPN. Makes no sense.
  • 3 0
 I’m frustrated with the coverage in 2023. I found myself watching more World Cup racing over the last few years. Until this year. Overall I couldn’t believe the production quality put in by Redbull and the fact that it’s free.

I’ve also subscribed to GCN+ for a while now and would be willing to pay for Redbull quality. But I’m not subscribing to multiple streaming services to follow one race series. Unfortunately there are country restrictions and the quality of announcers and coverage resembles community television. My last xc race watched had a cowbell being rung constantly as background noise. I can’t continue.

Now I’m lost and I don’t have intentions of watching future racing or replays. The racing product has never been better but unfortunately consuming it has become too cumbersome. Even for other disciplines the country restrictions is so frustrating. No world championship coverage in Canada at all unless you fork out $150 usd for another shitty provider(Flo Bikes)
This isn’t our problem in the end…
  • 9 6
 Why is it so hard for you all to accept you have to pay for professional sports? All the sports leagues require pay to watch wether it's streaming or cable. Just because it was free before is not a good enough reason either. I'm not saying it's good, but it's pretty normal. Reading the comments you would think discovery/gcn/UCI killed all of your families.
  • 4 1
 It's a bad buy for starters. Even from the outset it was pretty easy to tell the coverage would be worse. It's a tall ask to tell someone that was getting a great product for free that they now have to pay for a worse version of it. I held on to my money this season to see what it would be like. I am pleased with my decision to hold on to my money so far.
  • 3 0
 The Whistler Crankworx DH gave me that familiar edge of the seat feeling from DH racing of years past. The sport is seriously exciting to watch but somehow the UCI has sucked the life out of it. I haven't watched a single race this year but would love to if it were convenient, highlights only so far. The enthusiasm and knowledge of the the Red Bull commentators was irreplacable. They have spent a lifetime living and breathing the sport and their passion literally bleeds through. It's a real shame because the calibre of riding is just phenomenal this year.
  • 4 1
 Who tf is subscribing to Eurosport for their youtube channel ? The whole point is to watch the videos on their website or on their TV channel (unless I have missed something in the analysis). I was not keen on paying to watch the coverage but as soon as I have heard that eurosport commentary (in FR) was made by Flo Letondeur, I have paid the subscription right away. This + his coverage on Fullattack and you're on for a good one, insightful and terribly relevant in the comments and information provided ! At least for us, french people.
  • 3 0
 Seems all these sports want to charge a monthly fee to watch. Now I have to pay for Netflix, Hulu, Paramount + etc and then pay to watch the World Cup races and I play and watch disc golf and they have a sub for live DGPT coverage. It becomes too much to pay $10 + for each service when there are multiple.
  • 3 0
 I'm not overly bothered with the prospect of the Paywall. IF it was super clear that you need to subscribe to X in order watch the races, then I'd have done it. However, with how much confusion and back and forth there was, I wasn't about to buck up and pay for something when I wasn't sure how it would all work.
  • 3 0
 World Cup DH is one of the most exciting sports to watch, even for non participants. Most of my close friend group care nothing about it, but in the past I could be tuning in live at some absurd hour with the volume off at an after party on my phone or watching the REDBULL TV replay on my projector and anyone around me would get sucked into it. Turn up the commentary with ROB and they were hooked the same as me.

I broke down after the first race and got GCN+ because I love the sport and the coverage isn't as good, we still don't get all of the track but RB had it dialed pretty good in 2022. The Graphics, the drone pilots, the audio, it was primo and I would have paid double what I am paying for the shite GCN+ is peddling . Its great the juniors and women have better coverage but that's the only upside.

It's well and truly sad what happened with the change. Those riders are putting it all on the line TWICE as much with less than half the exposure . It's bad for the sport tbh.

For Fooks sake get Rob Warner back on the mic for color and Cedric I love ya man but yeah, ya aint it.
  • 5 0
 God I really hope UCI and the Broadcasters are reading and meditating on this comment section.
  • 7 0
 I think we all comment hoping that but....nah. They don't give a shiite. They think they've made some kind of amazing thing this year when all they're staring into the sun. Worst DH year I've ever seen in terms of format, presentation, access and commentary - not even close to the "worst" Redbull year (and there have been some to be sure).

Reminder: Discover. Does. Not. Care. This is just another Shark Week for them.
  • 4 0
 They definitely are, but really don't give a shit
  • 6 0
 EdBull Media house its almost everything i see...
  • 2 0
 I have a question, might be in the article but didn't see it - for 2023, were you able to see unique viewer counts, or is that the total viewer numbers? I think with content across 4 "official" channels, there are a lot of people that get double/triple/quad counted. Was that addressed in the data analysis?

Also would be interesting to see how those alternative sources fared - how was dialed/BK last year, or the red bull fast life series? I think those would have been interesting to see as well. Has interest in the sport dwindled, or interest in the DH official channels?

Very cool article though! Love these ones, thankyou!
  • 3 0
 Killer sport that is too hard to follow now. Even the PB coverage seems poorer - no winning runs when I have checked, although that may just be me not looking hard enough due to losing interest.
  • 3 1
 I've said it before, but putting the races behind a paywall the first year that you take over the running of it, is a joke. If Red Bull were still in charge and they decided to put up a paywall, I doubt that there would be much resitance to it as everyone knows what they're paying for. Whereas, we now have a new organisation running the sport, new format, new rules etc. and they (ESO/Discovery) expect the paying public to fund their experiment... I can honestly see this whole thing being the death of World Cup downhill.
  • 8 2
 Never watching anything with GCN/GMBN attached to it.
  • 7 0
 Needs more graphs
  • 3 1
 Not surprised to see views dripping off each race, the coverage is so bad that watching the recaps on yt is painful too. The only racing this year that is worse to watch is MV winning all the F1 races…

Been nice to have more free time on the weekends this North American summer.
  • 3 1
 i want to see the XC view comparisons YoY, and wow no one cares about womens DH, not saying you should, im not interested at all, but that’s a lot of tech and production for a 0 fux given viewership….. in the past i watched at least 70-80% of the womens XC race on redbull and 90% of the mens…i watch the highlights of each now equally, maybe 25% thru and then just fast forward to top 10 finishers….its terrible and dont get me started on that UCI world champs…awful….digging at the earths crust awful!
  • 2 0
 I was happy to pay basically whatever Discovery asked to continue watching the DHWC. I signed up for a paid sub before round one, but the coverage was so appallingly bad I've cancelled my sub. I would happily pay for good coverage.
  • 3 0
 Oh, and the semi-final format sucks.
  • 5 3
 Being the parent of a DH racer who aspires to be one of the juniors, along with seeing many of these juniors racing in the last few years, it means watching the juniors race on the Fri is one of the highlights. We use the Discovery+ app via Sky TV for this and it's faultless, it streams perfectly and happily. But seeing the juniors is exceptional especially as it gives all the Youth riders (and younger) an insight into where/what they can or may end up if the cards fall correctly.

Sure, we can discuss the Warner factor time and time again, but he chose what he chose and that's it, some of you guys have to move on. Warner wanted to stay with RB, it's that simple, the how, why, doesn't matter and won't change anything.
The coverage of the main event, i honestly don't see what is 'worse' about it, you see the riders, they go down the hill, one of them wins. If we ignore the commentary is not the best, then what exactly is wrong with the footage ?

On the point of the stats... without knowing how many people watch it live on Eurosport/GCN/Discovery, then what really is the point of the stats ?
  • 3 8
flag mluk2004 (Aug 22, 2023 at 3:00) (Below Threshold)
 Spot on. Alright, its no longer free but we get so much more coverage than previous years. The constant moaning about Rob not being there is a bit harsh on CG and Ric who are doing their best to replace a finished product.
  • 3 0
 i watched every race since the freecaster days. semifinals, no Rob Warner and paying made me to not care anymore. and i realised that i dont miss it. still watch some youtube videos like jenna hastings, bernard kerr...
  • 2 0
 Even stopped watching WynTV/Cathro/Vital and others because I can't relate to the content as I can't watch the races anymore like I used to. Generally I watch a lot less MTB content, I'm not sure why maybe interests shifted, but I still enjoy going for a ride.
  • 2 0
 Are highlight views up because people are not paying for live coverage so not watching "live"?
As in if you just watch Redbull free live coverage would you also watch the highlights?? (I know I didn't watch much highlight as I knew who won etc)

Also I didn't know there was "UCI Mountain Bike World Series" youtube channel, quick look, I prob watch a few things on there.

As for commentary, IMO (via GCN+) XC is a bit better, DH same/worse, but BOTH are kind of cover the same as Redbull with what is been said at each race eg always basic talk on tyres, air pressure, training, effects of altitude, food/fueling etc.
All basic/dumbed down to the casual /non MTB viewer IMO. IMO we need more geeky info etc.
  • 2 0
 Subscribing to anything for a whole year to watch around 7 races just feels wrong. Also I was unaware there were actual highlights available to watch anywhere. If there are highlights better than the trash UCI put out I'll have to check them out.
  • 2 0
 Course previews seems to be a fairly telling stat. Never behind a paywall but shows general excitement for the upcoming race from people who really want to know...and it fell off a cliff. After building up momentum for years. Crankworx Whistler was great though!
  • 2 0
 One very real issue for teams to consider now is (lack of) exposure for elite racers. The elites used to be the big draw, the race had the most drama, and they were paid the most (as it should be). Now, with subpar coverage limiting the appeal of paying for the elite race and the junior final being available for free, I imagine juniors will start to get higher viewing numbers, probably more than the elite finals behind the paywall. I certainly am in this camp; can't be bothered to pay for annoying commentary but am still watching everything they make available on YT. This will reduce the market value of elites and raise the value of juniors, and I would expect teams to respond accordingly by hiring more juniors (and potentially less elites). A professional race team is first/foremost a marketing operation, as it needs to pay for itself. The riders that get the most interest/eyeballs are the most valuable. I would expect teams to tailor their roster to suit the new format, unless something changes next year.
  • 2 0
 I'm watching less simply because it's incredibly difficult to workout what's one where.

Historically, I watched every minute of racing. I'd be up at 3am to watch Cairns etc. Totally devoted.

Know, it's incredibly frustrating trying to work out where to go. At least with Redbull it was one source of the truth.

With the new TV deal, the one positive I took from it was the races would be live on Eurosport here in the UK.

Race time comes, I put the TV on, turn to Eurosport only to find they're not actually broadcasting it live. So I fire my Discovery+ app up on Sky and spend an age navigating their abysmal menu system to try and find the broadcast. The the app starts glitching, sound comes and goes etc.

It's just not an enjoyable experience to watch now. Sort it out
  • 2 1
 UCI took racing coverage away from Red Bull-maybe a good move for their bottom line but a bad move for race fans.

I’m reluctant to pay to watch racing, some kid who’s stoked on cycling might not be able to make the choice.

If cycling is going to be even remotely attainable, it needs to be affordable. UCI isn’t a for-profit entity, so they could have chosen to do their part to keep things accessible.

But……it’s the UCI.
  • 6 1
 "make REDBULL TV great again"!
  • 1 0
 Enjoy following DH but don't have time to watch any sort of broadcast. I don't watch any other sports either, to be fair. l usually listen to Downtime or similar podcast at work to stay current, and look for highlight videos when I get a chance.
  • 1 0
 It's just not worth the gmbn + membership just to watch the elite finals when it was free before now ask to pay but with zero improvements. The coverage is worst than before, the commentary is pretty bad cedric's strong accent makes him hard to understand what he's saying. I think the semi's are ruining the racing, performing one run a 100% race speed is challenging enough mentally and physically let alone back to back runs. The other question is are the riders benefitting from the subscription sevice. Lets all hope Redbull come out with a hardline series next year of races.
  • 1 0
 I would watch every xc and downhill space on Redbull even urban dh know I can't even find where to watch without paying ....it feels so lame watching replays and and not being able to watch it live ....I used to watch qualifying I used to watch course previews know it's so lame ...coming from somone who used to race and stopped because a spine injury it feels like the sport is over with .. every top pro has had aeriuos injurys if ur not willing to hurt yourself ur not in the top 20 I used to think Brosnan and minna where so consistent but even minnar broke his spine bad and Brosnan destroyed his ankle ..Amaury broke spine like 3 times I think all pierrons broke there spine ...it's insane
  • 8 7
 To those of you complaining about having to pay to watch the races, a yearly GCN+ subscription costs $49.99, which is less than you pay for a new tire... You all ride bikes that cost $3,000 or more and you can't afford to pay $49.99 to watch your favorite sport?... Give me a break!
  • 11 0
 True in a way, but I get a whole lot more out of a new tire. Which brings me to the conclusion that world cup DH has never been actually as important to people as they thought back when it was free to watch. Myself included, sadly. I got up early to watch the coverage from Cairns live back in the day but since I'd have to pay I lost almost all interest. Back in the day I would stay off PB until I had watched the replay, nowadays I immediatly click on the results when posted and think 'ah, he or she won, good on them! What's up for dinner?'. It's sad and I would like to be more into it again but I just can't be bothered.
  • 7 2
 Some people don't throw their money away as casually as you do...why pay for an outwardly worse product that was once much better and free? I reject it based on principle, not because of the money.
  • 1 0
 You can get new DHF's for $35. Just sayin...
  • 3 2
 @rip8569: Because it is actually better
  • 2 1
 @jimmythehat that's definitely a minority opinion
  • 1 2
 @rip8569: depends how many people are complaining on here, a few hundred against all those that are enjoying the new coverage, suspect the moaners shout the loudest so perhaps they are the minority?
  • 2 0
 @jimmythehat: If that were true I would think they would release the live view numbers. The fact they don't I suspect they are not flattering. Aside from that, it's a big assumption on your part. The forum is open to anyone who is happy with the coverage as well. While there are a few people commenting who are happy with coverage, the commentary is universally mocked, and even out of those pos comments most are not happy with changes to the format either. What is it that you think makes it overall better?
  • 1 1
 @rip8569: more cameras, that’s it, worlds aside obviously as the top section by drone was a joke, I disagree with the majority and my opinion is that most are focused on the paywall and commentary not the production of the race, cameras numbers and positions.
  • 1 1
 @rip8569: I am very happy with the new coverage, I find it as good if not better than before.

For the XC races Bart Brentjens is the same as he was with Red Bull, but Ric Mclaughlin is much more knowledgeable than Rob Warner... All Rob used to do was scream and make "witty" comments, and then ask Bart what was going on... Ric at least knows what he's talking about.

I don't really watch much of the DH, I mostly just fast-forward through and see the last few riders... Rob Warner's screaming used to be a bit too much... He tried a bit too hard to make it exciting when all I wanted to do is watch the racing, which is exciting enough.

I prefer it now.
  • 2 1
 @billreilly: your opinion isn’t valid as it don’t match that of the echo chamber that is the pinkbike comments section
  • 5 3
 I am a fan. These racers are superstars to me. I watch them race.

ESO are full of it. UCI sucks forever. But this is my shit and I’m watching it! Any chance to watch, I’m taking it. You guys are weak!
  • 1 0
 I hope the UCI reads these responses. I support young riders and this year helped to found a UCI trade team to give junior World Cup riders support in the series. We have ten riders on the world cup this year. I love downhill. The UCI has been a pleasure to work with - absolutely responsive and no issues whatsoever.

The 2023 media production is poorly executed. It is clear there is not enough put into it and poor understanding of the market. These statistics are misleading and poorly proofed to make 2023 media seem more relevant. I have watched World Cup since freecaster era. One item that has been better is the ability to watch junior DHi race runs. Good job on that - but it’s the only thing we can watch for free.

It’s interesting how averse we all are to buying the WC subscription - I think they needed to prove their quality first before asking for money.

Our family has no issues buying supercross subscription every year. We would never not watch SX.
  • 6 0
 Grow the sport they said
  • 1 0
 One of the best years for DH racing in a long time, but rubbish coverage! A Massive Shame!

GOVERNING BODIES: The governing bodies need to listen to what people want, and not just offer the rights to who will pay the most. People want a commentator who is passionate and knowledgeable about the sport! Most will agree that the coverage without someone like Rob Waner is dull.

VIDEO/SOUND: Video is about telling a story, and building anticipation/excitement - the footage has definitely been lacking in this department. Especially with the dodgy sound effects in Fort William

PAY TO VIEW: No matter your opinion on the topic, some people do not want to pay to view. This is understandable after it has been free for over a decade and the coverage was much better.

FUTURE: Downhill World Cup racing is the F1 of mountain biking, and needs to be treated so. The sport of mountain biking is bigger than ever, with record numbers of people enjoying the sport. The dwindling views of downhill world cup racing need to be addressed fast. DH WC racing is the cornerstone of the sport, and many things hinge on the popularity of the sport. Fewer views = Less Money. Less Money = Less Sponsorship and Innovation. Less Sponsorship and Innovation = less demand (which equals less money for sponsorship etc).

Let's hope moving forward Discovery/GMBN can learn from their obvious mistakes. They have the ability to make or break the sport we love. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, it's only their first year, let's hope they improve!
  • 3 1
 The way they have handled it this year I really don't want them to improve... I want them to crash and burn as quickly as possible so we can move past this money grab debacle
  • 2 1
 this is a 8 yr deal that will kill the sport...fans need to create a DH broadcast group themselves. what if every dh/bike enthusiast pays to start a new broadcast group focused on all things related biking? group's board of members are pinkbikers hehe
  • 1 0
 > Looking in at race highlight views the 2022 Red Bull coverage pulled in 751,429 viewers while the 2023 coverage of the same races reached an audience of 889,275.

Not surprising, in the past I used to watch live streams, now I'll (maybe) watch the highlights. And since men, women and junior highlights are separate videos then every user counts three times I guess?
  • 1 0
 I have discovery+ free with SkyTV but ahh it just isnt the same.

Like some of the commentary is painfully bad and i have to mute it - I'm not saying "They need warner".....I'm just saying they need some guys/girls who are a little better ha

Redbull replays were pretty damn good too!
  • 1 0
 Yeah, this has all been a pretty frustrating transition. FWIW for US viewers the GCN+ subscription with VPN has worked for me. World Champs is viewable if you switch VPN to Ireland (still English speaking commentary, no weird licensing issues). All races are available love or as full coverage replays on the GCN app (which seems to be working okay on iOS). Plus you get access to all the road content if that’s your thing. But definitely it’s not straightforward to figure that all out, nor worth it for many/most. Like many have already said, I’m concerned for the long term health of the sport: there’s no way this won’t have an effect on viewers, attracting new participants, sponsors of riders and teams, venues, etc.
  • 1 0
 Yes the YT views are up because of lack of coverage to actually being able to watch the races. They really ruined the whole thing by getting greedy and hoping everyone will pay for the apps to watch. Bring it back to RedBUll TV!
  • 2 1
 If I was RedBull and I was reading these comments, it would be a no-brainer to start thinking about putting on their own alternative series. Even a few races at first. I realize $$, time, permits, scheduling, etc. to put that on - but it sounds like the reach for something different, but traditional is there. What is also in their favor is, scheduling is almost entirely always delegated by TV contracts.... if they already have RedBull TV, they'd be working with themselves which is 90% the battle these days.
  • 2 1
 Haven’t watched a single WC DH race this season for the first time in my life, been watching every race religiously since the free-caster days, always loved it used to be on the edge of my seat sweating when it came time for my favourite to drop in. I don’t even know when a race is being held anymore. Rip to mountain bike racing
  • 1 0
 "watching some free coverage" should have been an answer. I watched one race. I used to watch them all. I used to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn and watch—granted I also have a kid now, so it's a perfect storm of inconvenience. ;P
  • 2 1
 I used to watch every race on the RedbullTV app on my roku for the last 5 years. This year I reluctantly purchased GCN+ to watch them. I watched 2 races and the video quality was so bad with bad frame rate that I couldn't even finish them. Just cancelled my GCN+ subscription and don't have any desire to watch another race ever again unless something changes. I gotta say the drone footage was awfull. The last 3 to 5 seconds was consistently just the drone slowing down with the rider out of view. How could the producers allow this crap.
  • 1 0
 im paying. I was excited about the new format and larger amount of course coverage. Its worse than it was even with the increased course coverage. I was looking forward to cedric....but his english is so bad it gets in the way of a solid narration. swap cedric for somewhen else knowledgeable, funny, and a better at speaking english....warner!
  • 1 1
 When comparing to the past years, does this take into account many watch Redbull Bike on youtube and then there's the official Redbull site and app? If you're only counting youtube then the number is actually going to be way bigger. It certainly seems many have lost some interest with the changes. I've followed all the races this year, thanks Tiz!
  • 3 1
 Trying to watch the events is frustrating. The broadcasting is spotty and I was super disappointed with my GCN+ subscription. Bring back Rob and Redbull!!!
  • 5 3
 I am still watching and will continue to do so. Because I enjoy watching the races. The commentary isn’t good, hoping it’ll get better over time.
  • 3 2
 your in for a slow death then
  • 3 0
 It would also be interesting to see how the Enduro figures look as they seem he'll bent on killing it off.
  • 2 2
 I haven't watched any world cup this year after watching each and every race (both mens and womens) after the race.

I don't believe that this new model is reaching a broader audience - just different cyclists that were already subscribing... What about broadening to the non-cyclist - that's the key which RedBull was doing.
  • 1 1
 Paid for a GCN+ subscription, makes me realise how good RedBullTV was. Think viewer demographic with the new providers is totally different with an audience that only have a look at the elite men’s competition to see what it’s all about. I’d say the numbers of mountain bikers watching is down and unfortunately that would include the younger generations who in the past could access it for free.
  • 1 1
 Announcers are trash. Coverage is mediocre. Not worth paying for in the least bit. Bring back Red Bull and Rob Warner, or at least provide coverage thats half as good. Have watched a few of the semi's on youtube live and can hardly get coverage that isn't pixelated, weird shots of the scenery without riders, terrible commenting, just an overall disappointment. Was ready to pay for enduro coverage and full race runs and have been left not paying nearly as much attention to racing I watched religiously in the past.
  • 2 0
 In BC the timing is tricky. I would watch an hour or so of each race in 2022. Sometimes live, sometimes not. In 2024, I’ve watched nothing.
  • 3 0
 If my changed my viewing habits you mean began paying more for less, then yes.
  • 2 1
 Lol.. the article gagging over everything being up doesn't match the actual results of the survey questions at the end of the article.. fail... Pmsl. ‍♂️... GlobalMountainBikeNonsense
  • 1 0
 I subscribed on disco plus through amazon. When the race starts the commentary doesn't start so I wait for a multi audio broadcast later. So live broadcast is poor. Then you get the commentary and it's.... Well.
  • 1 1
 The XC coverage has been good but the DH less so. Cedric is a terrible commentator. Neil is much better and should be the permanent WC dh commentator. Overall the excitement and build up is far worse than RB TV. Not sure I'll renew my subscription next year.
  • 1 1
 Neil sounded bored like he was commentating on chess
  • 3 1
 No f#ckn way i am paying for a subscription to watch world cups..... as the Joker said, Its not about the money, its about sending a message.
  • 2 2
 That message being you don’t want to see the sport grow and will presumably be happy when sponsors pull out
  • 2 0
 UCI screwed the DH streaming. The UCI coup to push for roadies in the front at the last XC world champs race was just the proof that they only care about this discipline.
  • 1 0
 The only coverage I've watched this year has either been highlight clips, or Ben Cathro. I paid for a subscription to gcn, but I was immediately hit with errors and just lack luster support in general, and canceled.
  • 3 0
 I am most interested in how many subscriptions they started the season with and how much it has grown or shrunk since.
  • 1 0
 I never missed a WC until this year. Wake up early make a coffee and dig in! Now it’s a sh$t show. I’d pay money but I ain’t paying for sh$t. The Crankworx Whistler DH was the highlight of my year!!
  • 1 3
 Really. That wasn’t even a race which is why most of the top riders weren’t there. Fair enough if your into the spinny flippy stuff
  • 1 1
 Paid for the GCN+ subscription. Watched part of the first World Cup and hated what they had done to it. I decided to give it until World Champs to see if it would improve. I told myself: "Well, at least I get to watch the Tour de France now." I was mistaken. I had to get Peacock because GCN+ did not have the rights for the US. Tried to watch World Champs... Yep. I get it, the rights were sold to someone else too.

I thought paying for the GCN+ subscription would be enough to finally watch all this stuff in one place. It shouldn't be this difficult. I've unsubscribed.
  • 2 0
 It is in the Uk. It must be a rights issue in the usa
  • 2 0
 Without rob warner the commentary is pretty blah. Thank god he’s doing crankworx and those broadcasts are still free (for now)
  • 1 1
 They had a raw, punk product and instead of supporting and nurturing it they gave it Simon Cowell. It's lame and cringey, all of it. I did pay for a GCN pass but still don't watch it. EdBullTV for pre-race & WynTv/Misspent Summers for post-race.
  • 1 0
 I gave up watching after it left redbull. Paying a fee wasn't the reason. Paying a fee, and still having to deal with certain races being geo restricted was. I haven't followed a single race this year.
  • 4 0
 I used to watch DH now I don’t even get out of bed
  • 1 1
 Feeling a lot of crust in these replies. Probably doesn't sum up the average viewer well. Let's be honest...no one really likes the changes. The semi's are not a good edition. But come on...support the athletes and suck it up and watch. Everything costs...surprised that it was free for this long. Just wish Warner was still in the mix. If he was, I'd bet a lot more people would suck it up. If you're a real fan like you say, you'll pay and watch, if you're not...you won't. Bunch of freaking crybaby's
  • 1 1
 "surprised that it was free for this long"

It was just a marketing tool for red bull. That's pretty much all their sporting activity is.
  • 1 0
 It’s worth noting that if you are in the UK with a sky sports subscription on Q or Glass, you can watch all content through the discovery + app
This was something that is not seemingly made obvious in all the articles
  • 1 0
 I have watched exactly zero minutes of anything DH this season. I have looked at some photos but more from a photo angle than from a content angle. It is roundly uninteresting to me this season.
  • 4 1
 So here we go. Once again I miss RedBull.
  • 4 1
 Coverage has been pretty bad this year.
  • 1 1
 I pay for a GCN+ subscription but only because my son is racing in the WC events. If not, I likely would watch the Youtube channels for the highlights. It is a true bummer to lose Warner/Elliot and Red Bull.
  • 2 1
 Warner chose not to agree a contract for this season. That was his choice, fair enough, Discovery cant make someone work for them
  • 1 0
 @chrismac70: I think what you mean is Warner was already under contract to Red Bull.
  • 1 0
 @commental: Warner said on a podcast a couple of months ago that he wasn't under contract to red bull. I imagine Ric was significantly cheaper than Rob...
  • 1 0
 @boardinbob: Do you remember where you heard it? It seems to conflict with what he was reported as saying in a PB story last year.
"Warner reportedly inked a new deal with Red Bull this spring who, if you skipped everything above this, are no longer broadcasting our sport. By the power of deduction, that tells us that we won't have Rob's English excitement again as we did on that day in Champery back in 2011 and so many times since.

We reached out to Warner who confirmed the rumour: "No, that’s true. I won’t be working with the UCI for the foreseeable future, I’ll be working for Red Bull."
  • 1 0
 @commental: It was on his instagram and I believe he deleted it pretty quickly. There were some screengrabs of if floating about
  • 3 0
 I have no idea how to watch
  • 3 0
 HOw?! How are you all watching these races??
  • 2 4
 Through the magic of sight
  • 2 1
 I tried... Paid the gcn+ sub, VPN to watch world's, etc. Not again in 2024. Not enuff elite stuff for all the fluff Give Rob back his wings!
  • 1 0
 I think the whole semi-finals has diluted my enthusiasm. GVN seems OK. Commentary is crap but coverage OK. But I'm just not excited.
  • 2 0
 Well, I am down to checking the results here on PB or other websites when the race is finished.
  • 1 0
 Could we see the same analysis for XCO (crosscountry racing)?
I feel like that might attract some more audience from non-MTB audience, at least from the roadies segment.
  • 2 0
 Bit of a waste of effort making all the pretty graphs if you don't actually have data on finals viewings (RB or Discovery).
  • 3 0
 What small brain came out with this study?
  • 2 0
 I can't justify to pay a month os salary just to watch some races in brazil
  • 2 0
 What about the Eurosport broadcast content that doesn’t go via YouTube but is shown on their tv Chanel’s.
  • 1 0
 safe to assume YT numbers gonna go up a bit more next season. because I won't be the only one not renewing the Discovery+ subscription
  • 1 0
 I didn’t read any of that but for the past 8 years I got up around 5:00am and watched every downhill World Cup live on red Bull tv.This year I have watched none.
  • 1 1
 Complains , complains, complains
Pay gcn+, 10$ by months during 6 months , share the account with you friends, and enjoy the racing until October!
And stop with Rob. (Its also good in french with Flo).
  • 2 0
 Thank God the Pivot Team is so active. Troys Vlogs are a welcome addition. Fuck UCI Stuff.
  • 1 0
 We miss Rob´s vibe voiceover "LOOK AT THE TIME"

youtu.be/6KZV7zfMGTg

youtu.be/KMJTnB-50zE

youtu.be/wVwvXKhQvkE

Since Freecaster
  • 1 0
 Whats going on with the point system? - couple of riders like Adam Brayton feel the new set up is "anti-privateer"

Why did they change the set up?
  • 1 0
 Because they want to end up with a series where only factory teams are involved. It's why they cut away to show the team managers during race runs, even though no one is remotely interested in seeing that crap.
  • 1 0
 @commental: Now you mention it - I have noticed the team managers and owners on the coverage, Im not digging the vibes this year at all!
  • 2 0
 Bring back fantasy leagues
  • 1 0
 I started working on one, but with such garbage coverage I'm not going to bother.
  • 1 0
 How about some stats for Fantasy League too, since we're already standing around watching this dumpster burn?
  • 2 0
 Yep...pretty gutted. I miss Rob and redbull replays....like alot.
  • 2 0
 Cedric was better when he was solo on Red Bull french language commentary.
  • 2 1
 Over halfway through the season and I still don't understand who the f*** qualifies for finals
  • 1 0
 This is the first year in years I've not watched it, I watch the qualies and some highlights and that's it.
  • 4 1
 BK nearly at PB numbers
  • 1 1
 There's no option for watching the racing illegally? There's some wonderful folks somewhere in Europe that love to rip Discovery off.
  • 2 1
 tiz-cycling.io/categories/mountain-bike/#google_vignette

All the replays of previous rounds are also here.
  • 2 0
 Bring back the Pinkbike Fantasy League and free streaming on Redbull!
  • 2 0
 I am not engaged because I am. Not playing dh fantasy. Your fault pb
  • 2 0
 Yes people are watching DH more why wouldnt you lol
  • 1 0
 We miss Rob´s vibe voiceover

youtu.be/6KZV7zfMGTg

youtu.be/KMJTnB-50zE
  • 1 0
 I get all my DH racing info from Wyn TV now.....have not watched anything else. Wyn TV for the WYN!!!!
  • 3 4
 To be honest i paid 3,99 for a Month discovery +.
In this Month in watched 3 Races.
We pay a couple thousand bucks for Bikes and Gear.
  • 2 0
 what a mess...
  • 1 0
 People lied on this poll for sure.
  • 1 0
 ouens, die uci en discovery is n kak storie. Anyway, lekker braai.
  • 2 0
 I stopped watching.
  • 1 0
 Too much content...too difficult to view. Shame
  • 1 1
 I haven't been able to log into GCN+ for three weeks. Piece of crap.
  • 1 0
 Data Overload!
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